Zab Judah loses to little known Carlos Baldomir

Shocker: Baldomir defeats Judah!
By Matt Richardson and Jason "J-Gon" Gonzalez at ringside
WBC mandatory Carlos Baldomir (42-9-6, 12 KOs) scored an improbable upset unanimous decision over formerly undisputed welterweight champion Zab "Super" Judah (34-3, 25 KOs) on Saturday night in the sold-out Theater at New York City's Madison Square Garden. The stage for a bizarre night was set when Judah punched Baldomir on the thigh instead of touching gloves during the prefight introductions. Judah's great speed gave him the advantage early, but the pesky Baldomir kept coming and coming. Referee Arthur Mercante Jr. admonished Baldomir for punching after the bell in round one, and Judah for holding and hitting in round two. Judah seemed to be cruising to a decision win until Baldomir suddenly staggered Judah in the seventh and Zab had to hold on for dear life. Baldomir continued to stalk the champion in the eighth. Baldomir again outworked Judah in round nine as the fight tightened up. Baldomir continued to be the aggressor in the tenth and eleventh. Baldomir seemed to hurt Judah with about 25 seconds left in the twelfth but simply raised his arms instead of throwing punches. Scores were 115-113, 114-113, 115-112, all for Baldomir who paid sanctioning fees only for the WBC title. The WBA title is now held solely by "regular" champion Luis Collazo and the IBF title is now vacant. Judah's planned April 8 superfight with Floyd Mayweather went up in smoke with the loss.
Saturday, January 7 2006

I saw the fight, and when a guy with 12 KO's out of nearly 60 fights hurts you like he hurt Zab Judah. Zab's chin is now very questionable.

Mayweather I am sure of it will decimate Zab Judah and this guy deserves his win. After the fight you had Zab Judah blaming the loss on Don King and you had Zab Judah's father blaming the loss on the Judges, saying that Bladomir only won maybe 3 or 4 rounds.

Right.....

Zab Judah is a moron and I can barely understand what he says. Especially his father, they need a translator in his corner.

I ALWAYS questioned Zab's chin. He got dropped by Cory Spinks, who has even less power than Baldomir and never sits on his punches. Spinks is a slappy kinda puncher who prefers speed to punching with authority and he still knocked down Zab.
I'm from NY so I always try to root for NY fighters, but Zab's an idiot. He has a bad habit of fighting DOWN to jis opposition and it cost him a shot at millions.

NEW YORK - Carlos Baldomir is not the undisputed welterweight championship after all.

The boxer who upset champion Zab Judah on Saturday night won only the WBC version of the title because he never paid the sanctioning fees to the WBA and the IBF.

Baldomir won a unanimous 12-round decision over Judah, but said in the post-fight news conference he didn't want to pay the other fees.

"My purse was only $100,000," Baldomir said early Sunday morning. "If I paid each of them the required three percent, I would have come away with nothing."

Ron Scott Stevens, chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission, said he was unaware that Baldomir did not pay the required fees.

"Everybody thought this was a unification bout, and no one knew until after the fight that the sanctions were not paid to the WBA and IBF," Stevens said.

"Don King announced at the press conference that it was a unification fight," he said, "and everybody thought that was true until after Baldomir made his comments following the bout."

Baldomir, the WBC's No. 1 contender, improved to 42-9-6, receiving winning scores of 115-113 from judge Guido Cavallieri of Italy, 115-112 from Melvina Lathan of New York and 114-113 from Julie Lederman, also of New York.

Judah dropped to 34-3. The New Yorker, who weighed in a half-pound more than Baldomir at 146 3/4 pounds, had won his four previous bouts, including a bout with Cory Spinks last Feb. 5 in which he regained his WBC title.

Baldomir staggered Judah with a right to the chin early in the seventh round. In retaliation, Judah grabbed at Baldomir's legs twice to hold on and then stayed away the rest of the round to avoid further damage from left and right jabs.

In the 10th, the champion suffered a cut over his right eye from an accidental head butt.

"After the seventh round, I knew I had won," the 34-year-old Baldomir, from Argentina, said through an interpreter. "The head butt was an accident and I was never afraid of the fight being stopped, even though I was bleeding quite badly. My corner took care of me."

In the closing seconds of the final round, Baldomir raised his arms in anticipation of his victory.

"I have no excuses," the 28-year-old Judah said, "but my promoter (King) messed me up. All week, I was doing his job of promoting the fight by making appearances all over the place. Still, I prepared well, but he caught me with a good shot in the seventh. It was clean and I got hurt. He used his jab and did what he had to do."

King, after refuting Judah's charges, said there was no rematch clause in the contract.

Baldomir said he is ready for his next fight.

"I want (Floyd) Mayweather or Oscar De La Hoya," he said.

On the undercard, O'Neil Bell rallied to stop Jean-Marc Mormeck of France at 2:50 of the 10th round of a 12-rounder to win the undisputed cruiserweight championship. Also, Ulises Solis of Mexico had a unanimous 12-round decision to dethrone Will Grigsby, the IBF junior flyweight titleholder.